BY ED FELIEN
Now, they take him and they teach him
And they groom him for life
And they set him on a path where he’s bound to get ill
Then they bury him with stars, sell his body like they do used cars
Now, there’s a woman on my block
She just sits there facing the hill
She say, who gonna take away his license to kill? — Bob Dylan
Lt. Bob Kroll is president of the Minneapolis Police Officers Federation. He’s been with the MPD for 27 years, 15 years of which he spent on the SWAT team. He’s been the target of several lawsuits. The Star Tribune reported on Dec.11, 2015, that “Kroll was named in a 2007 racial discrimination lawsuit against the department that was brought by five black officers—including current deputy chief Medaria Arradondo—after Kroll reportedly called U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison a terrorist and made disparaging comments about a gay aide to former Mayor R.T. Rybak in front of several other high-ranking commanders. The plaintiffs, collectively known as the Mill City 5, said the episode, which resulted in Kroll’s suspension, was symptomatic of a culture of racial intolerance and retaliation in the department.”
Kroll has called Black Lives Matter a terrorist organization. According to WCCO he said Mayor Betsy Hodges and Minneapolis City Council Members Alondra Cano, Cam Gordon and Lisa Bender were creating a “dangerous and unproductive atmosphere” by supporting protesters of police brutality.
Now, he’s hell-bent for destruction, he’s afraid and confused
And his brain has been mismanaged with great skill
All he believes are his eyes
And his eyes, they just tell him lies
But there’s a woman on my block
Sitting there in a cold chill
She say, who gonna take away his license to kill?
Police training videos teach officers to shoot first and ask questions afterwards. The unmistakable conclusion officers are forced to come to is that if they don’t shoot someone in the back when they are running away, then that person will turn around and shoot and kill them. Under Minnesota law, all a police officer has to say is, “I thought he had a gun.” If a smart lawyer can convince a jury that an officer believed the suspect had a gun or was trying to get a gun, then the officer has a license to kill that person. And, if the officer is racist, and we know many of them are because a 2006 FBI study showed white supremacists were infiltrating municipal police departments, then a white officer has a Get Out of Jail Free card he can play anytime he wants.
For What It’s Worth
There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware
I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind
It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down —Stephen Stills
Ruben Rosario, in an article in the Pioneer Press on Jan. 10, 2009, wrote about Kroll’s participation in City Heat, a motorcycle club of fellow police officers that started in Chicago: “Several organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center, confirmed for us that photos on the City Heat website showed numerous individuals displaying symbols of the KKK and neo-Nazi hate groups, along with the Confederate flag, nooses, ‘Proud to be White’ and ‘Are you here for the hanging’ patches.
“Police personnel records revealed that Kroll had 19 other internal-affairs complaints during his 26 years on the force, all but three of which were closed without discipline. He has been reprimanded once in recent years, and he also was suspended after being accused of using excessive force, records show.
“He said the lawyers and others are misinterpreting the pictures he has seen of the questionable items. He described the ‘I’m here for the hanging’ patch, worn by someone he believes might be a Chicago-area cop, as ‘some type of inside joke with Chicago.’
“‘Aren’t you aware of hangings in old western shows?’ Kroll asked. He believes the patch stems from ‘Beer for My Horses,’ a country-western song Kroll says is popular among cops because of its strong law-and-order lyrics. The song ‘has reference to taking all the rope in Texas, find a tall oak tree, round up all of them bad boys, hang ’em high in the street,’ Kroll said. ‘Great song—I have the CD.’
[We got too many gangsters doing dirty deeds
Too much corruption, and crime in the streets
It’s time the long arm of the law put a few more in the ground
Send ‘em all to their maker and he’ll settle ‘em down
You can bet he’ll set ‘em down
Cause justice is the one thing you should always find
You got to saddle up your boys, you got to draw a hard line
When the gun smoke settles we’ll sing a victory tune
We’ll all meet back at the local saloon
And we’ll raise up our glasses against evil forces singing
Whiskey for my men, beer for my horses.]
“As for the rebel flags, ‘If you travel the South, Confederate flags are quite popular,’ Kroll explained. ‘I think you would have a hard time proving racism … Again, I have yet to see any hate and racially offensive symbols. The ones you provided me are weak at best.’ ”
What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side
It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down.
When Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has,” we always thought she was speaking about us. Is it possible the meaning could also apply to a neo-Nazi motorcycle gang?
